The Challenge
To create an online platform that will support research and development in the field of low carbon energy within the UK economy. It must help interested parties to look for funding within their area of expertise, or be matched to fellow collaborators.
About the Brief
The Department of Energy and Climate Change and Technology Strategy Board work closely with Knowledge Transfer Networks to extend the reach through research, education and business communities in key UK sectors.
They commissioned an online platform to act as the primary source of information on public and private sector funding for the low carbon sector, and a self serving mechanism to bring together groups of interested parties to explore greater collaborative working.
The platform needed to provide the functionality to register as either a funding provider or as a company looking for funding. Funding providers would add their funding opportunities along with details, application dates and relevant links to their website. Companies looking for funding could list the types of funding they are interested in, register an interest in a funding opportunity, and contact other companies to work in partnership with.
Key Wins
The entire web based application was delivered to challenging timescales, ready within one month of award to coincide with government announcement and wider implementation of the Low Carbon Strategy.
Less developer time translates to remarkable cost savings, less disruption to normal business and faster delivery times.
The user and admin areas had safeguards in place to allow independent control of the site and enable users to visit, register and be responsible for their own listings.
The option to moderate entries before being displayed on the site was given via a configurable data setting.
Additionally the system allowed changes to be made to the database fields without undertaking any additional development work.
Government spending is increasingly under scrutiny, so it's important to know that public purse is spent responsibly.
The funding platform has a full ready made reporting suite to maintain accountability, evaluate activity on the site and measure outcomes against the initial objectives.
Approach
The project had a series of essential and desirable requirements that the platform must be able to deliver. We secured this tender by offering all of the functionality, and adding value by including attractive extras to enhance the platform, at a competitive price.
An initial requirements meeting cemented the project team, confirmed roles and responsibilities, and re-emphasised our commitment to agile delivery. We scheduled three releases ensuring early sight of the project, manoeuvre for changes, and rapid albeit short timescales for completion.
The first phase included the database build and delivery of the robust user management and administration areas. This showed the client how to create and manage secure accounts, allocate roles and permissions, and suspend if necessary the people that will use the platform. The second phase delivered the content management and metadata management systems. Meta data management gave freedom and flexibility to create online forms and searchable fields without needing any further developer input.
The final phase brought the project to completion with the addition of audit logs and reporting suites. Each phase had system and user testing, and sign off to progress the next.
What Our Client Had to Say
"The task of developing the interactive tool that we wanted was far from trivial and set against a very tight deadline. I am delighted that the results are excellent."
Director Energy Knowledge Transfer Network
Contact Us
We'd love to hear from you whether you're wanting bespoke development for your back end systems or you'd simply like to say hello!
getintouch@exbos.co.uk